It seems strange that Monaco would have any thoughts about letting Martial go after they only signed him from Lyon 12 months ago, and the article on RMC does say that Monaco have no intention of selling the 18-year-old, but that hasn’t stopped the interest from Arsenal and Schalke this week plus past interest from Juventus.

Last summer Lyon had to sell someone quickly to meet their budget requirements for the stock-exchange. They had hoped to sell either Bafetimbi Gomis or Jimmy Briand, but neither moved on so Lyon had to accept a €5 million bid from Monaco.

Very highly rated within the French game, the striker got a few opportunities to showcase his talents at the Principality this season. Starting just eight games, he managed to score twice. He also added an assist when he was brought on for Radamel Falcao in the 1-0 win over Nantes.

It was Martial that Ranieri called upon when the Colombian striker had his poor patch during the second-half of the season. Martial didn’t let Monaco down and looked every part the prospect that many believe him to be.

He was part of the France under-19 squad that made the European Championship final last summer, he has made the step up to the under-21 side this season and has continued to impress.

Juventus showed interest last winter and there was talk of a potential loan deal in the offing, but Martial stayed in Monte Carlo. It would be a huge surprise if Monaco were to let the young player leave this summer. They were lucky to get him at the price they did, and it would take a very tempting bid from any side to make Monaco sit up and pay attention.

Dimitar Berbatov has signed up for another year, the future of Falcao is unclear, so right now Martial is fairly high up the pecking order, and if he continues to impress it will be hard to stop him becoming a star in Ligue 1.

Expect a lot of interest in the young forward, but it looks like he will be staying in France for the time being.

Andrew Gibney

Andrew Gibney started following France's Ligue 1 about 10 years ago and it is an obession that has stayed with him ever since.His writing career started as a hobby, but now he calls Lille, France his home and spends his weekend either watching Lille OSC or teams down in the fifth division of the French league pyramid, forever searching for the next Eden Hazard.A typical Glasweigan, he once walked 106 miles in seven days, from Sheffield to Lille, just to avoid paying for the Eurostar. Managing to talk his way into a few freebies from other clubs along the way.